Patient Expectations At The Optometrist's Office.

Background: Patients assess their health service experience a number of ways. We seek to uncover what aspects of the optometric practice patients value, what aspects they may ignore, and what aspects are detrimental. With the advent of electronic health
records, we are also interested in how patients would like to see technology used in
doctor-patient communication.
Methods: Obtaining patient perception of the optometric experience will be conducted via survey. Patients will receive this survey among other paperwork when they check-in to the University Eye Center.
Results: Survey forms were filled out by participants in February 2015. Twenty-four patients responded, ranging in age from five to sixty-three, with over half coming from the 18-34 year old demographic. Our data highlights patient preference in some aspects of optometric care while leaving other aspects more ambiguous.
Conclusions: The results showed a few trends for patient preference based on age group. Younger adults (ages 18-34) showed more interest than older adults (ages 35-65) in utilizing technology to communicate with their eye doctor and to browse frame selection. Younger adults also preferred wireless internet as their convenience of choice to have in the waiting area. Patients expressed preference of exam time ranging from 30-60 minutes.